MacBook Pro rumor rollup: thinner, better, faster, stronger

As the MacBook Pro update looms, "leaked" info is seeping out of the woodwork.

Multiple sources are now aligning on a vision of the next MacBook Pro, expected to be unveiled at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference in June. The new machine is expected to retain the "Pro" moniker, and supposedly won't be a copy of Apple's current MacBook Air. However, it is expected to drop the optical drive and "legacy" FireWire and Ethernet ports, slim down in thickness, and vastly increase screen resolution.

The overall picture of the reported MacBook Pro revision, as detailed by sources for 9to5 Mac, aligns with previous rumors that suggested the MacBook Pro would go on a diet. Apple is expected to slim down the current MacBook Pro by ditching its optical drive—which in the age of the Mac App Store and iTunes downloads is largely becoming vestigial for most users. Taking some cues from the successful MacBook Air, the new MacBook Pro will also rely on a solid state drive for booting. We believe Apple will utilize the tiny SSD modules it designed for the MacBook Air to shave size and weight, though it will likely offer a 2.5" internal bay for optional additional storage (either HDD or SSD). And for upgraders, there is still one company offering additional modules in greater capacities than Apple currently offers.

Apple will undoubtedly be upgrading the MacBook Pro line to Intel's latest Ivy Bridge processors, but the rumored thinner body may prove somewhat challenging for thermal design. This leads us to believe that Apple may standardize on 35W dual-core processors across its MacBook Pro line. There are only a handful of quad-core Ivy Bridge parts available, and most are 45W TDP—that might be pushing things inside a thinner unibody enclosure. However, we do know there is at least one quad-core part—for OEMs only—that tops out at 35W TDP; it seems likely this chip may appear as a build-to-order upgrade.

By virtue of the upgrade to the Ivy Bridge platform, the new MacBook Pro is also expected to support USB 3.0. The new design may have as many as three USB 3.0 ports, which are backwards compatible with USB 2 devices as well.

In a move that may shock some pro users, Apple may be ditching FireWire and Ethernet ports entirely, relying on dual Thunderbolt connectors to handle high-speed storage and networking needs. While some users will no doubt call the move premature, trends have been pointing towards this consolidation of ports for a couple years. WiFi is widely used for networking, even in many enterprise environments, and there are already solutions for connecting Ethernet adapters to both Thunderbolt and USB. And while FireWire is still used widely in pro audio and video circles, vendors have been expanding Thunderbolt storage options as of late. Thunderbolt adapters for FireWire also exist, and more are expected this summer.

Still, driving notebook and desktop pixel densities that high may not even be required to achieve a "Retina" effect, as noted by developer David Barnard. Whereas iOS software is highly dependent on the physical size of an iPad or iPhone, OS X's windowed interface offers much more adaptability. "Apple doesn't have to build displays that are exactly 2x current displays—they just have to build displays that work well with OS X when running at 2X," he wrote in March.

The latest spate of rumors seem to focus on the 15" MacBook Pro, and don't mention the 13" or 17" models. Some have suggested that Apple may abandon the 17" MacBook Pro entirely, and it's even possible that Apple could ditch the 13" model in favor of the popular 13" MacBook Air. Such simplification might fit in with Apple's DNA, but we're not sure that such a move is necessary. A 13" MacBook Pro using a design akin to the rumored 15" MacBook Pro revision would still offer some benefits over a 13" Air, in particular concerning storage and raw processing capacity. The 17" MacBook Pro has always strained the definition of portability, but we feel there is still a market for it among video and graphics pros that need "occasional" portability for field work.

153 Reader Comments

I am not going to be happy if they go to all duo-core setups, and I suspect I'm not alone in that regard. I'm banking on a quad-core when I replace my five-year-old 15" MBP for what I hope will be another 5-year work machine. Given that I'm sure I'm not alone, I'll be terribly surprised if Apple actually goes that direction...

We wouldn't rule out quad-core, either. We suggested Apple could have gone all-quad-core if it wanted to, using 45W parts.

I just not entirely sure using 45W parts is possible/reasonable with a significantly thinner design. Apple may be banking on OEM-only 35W parts, for instance, or it may have some improved cooling design or something else up it's sleeve.

I hear you. I would guess they may be able to get some gains by rearranging the internals, what with dropping the ODD - certainly they've been able to pull off some surprising feats that way with the Air in the last couple years.

And I'd take the 35W quad-core parts, even if it were an upgrade; but I think I (and most other "power" users) would be happier to take a slight increase in thickness if it came with the corresponding substantial increase in computing power. For development, video and audio editing, etc., that would just be a big deal.

I'm not one of the people who thinks Apple is intent on just ignoring the pro market and consumerizing everything; they're smart enough to realize that the pro market matters and that on balance the pro market cares about power more than thinness and weight, given a choice. (Optimally, we'd love both...)

Of course it matters how much thinner the design is. There's a long ways between the MBA and the current MBP designs, which I think are actually thicker than my 2007 MBP (which was the first generation of 64-bit Core 2 Duos, on the old body design). They're certainly not any thinner than it is...

Sandy Bridge-E Xeon chips have been out for a while. I'm wondering if either a) Apple was waiting for newer Tb controllers, or b) maybe switching to IVB desktop parts?

Sandy Bridge E chips were announced in March and companies have only just recently started actually getting product w/them out the door. Apple isn't too far behind at the moment. Also, your article is the only place I have heard any talk of dual core only. The current processors are 35 and 45W and the new generation of mobile GPUs are a few watts cooler than the last. Add in the removal of the ODD to make space for more battery and more efficient cooling and I don't see any reason we can't have the quads. All quad is entirely likely.

I have a 2010 MBP and have never used the optical drive, firewire, or the ethernet even once. I do however appreciate the larger screen and better graphics of the MBP line. I would very much appreciate Apple getting rid of both the optical drive and the ethernet in order to give me a lighter, thinner, yet powerful laptop. I think Apple is listening

And as for all of you who need these legacy technologies, Apple has always been about dumping old tech a little sooner than some people think they should. Remember the end of floppies on the iMac, flash on iOS, or the end of optical on the air? All were ahead of their time, but that's how Apple rolls. You really shouldn't have expected Apple to offer ethernet until 2020 like some other companies will.

Sandy Bridge-E Xeon chips have been out for a while. I'm wondering if either a) Apple was waiting for newer Tb controllers, or b) maybe switching to IVB desktop parts?

Sandy Bridge E chips were announced in March and companies have only just recently started actually getting product w/them out the door. Apple isn't too far behind at the moment. Also, your article is the only place I have heard any talk of dual core only. The current processors are 35 and 45W and the new generation of mobile GPUs are a few watts cooler than the last. Add in the removal of the ODD to make space for more battery and more efficient cooling and I don't see any reason we can't have the quads. All quad is entirely likely.

This inspires a sigh of relief for me, and it seems to make sense. Since one of the most-touted advantages of the Ivy Bridge upgrade is its power usage, I'd be surprised if the combination of space gain/rearrangement with Ivy Bridge didn't make quad-core (45W) totally doable. But I'm not a huge hardware guy, so I'm always glad to hear from people who are more knowledgeable there.

It sounds to me like there is a certain subset of users that really want to have an Ethernet port on board at all times. I don't doubt this subset is very vocal, but I'm wondering what percentage of MacBook Pro users this represents? My gut feeling is small enough that Apple is willing to get rid of it to make its laptops thinner.

Essentially the thinking is, "99% of users never need an Ethernet port or only need it very occasionally, while 1% need it all the time, and those people can buy an adapter."

Grow a spine and pick a side. It's not consistent to keep spouting the BYOD drivel and IT should support Apple devices on corporate infrastructure and then flip around and support Apple when they make it more difficult to support Apple products for IT.

Wifi is fine for corporate networks to support iDevices as well as Android and other portables. Running a bunch of workstation replacement MBPs on Wifi or a silly 10/100 dongle or requiring a dock / hub is ridiculous when the bulk of current machines running Windows from major OEMs include GbE. Even 100Mbit is faster than Wifi once you have more than 2 users on the same AP versus a switched network... and I'm not even getting into the lack of full duplex even in 802.11n.

You can't possibly fathom the issues with office / campus scale Wifi when you start talking file sharing, large attachments, databases, hosted applications and similar because Wifi is shared bandwidth and not scalable from a cost or spectrum perspective. Ethernet is much higher bandwidth, better latency, cheaper to maintain, and is a one-to-one connection for bandwidth, even scalable beyond one-to-one on the server side with port aggregation.

Further the issue continues the 2nd class citizen status content creation (audio / television / film) artists have be relegated to by Apple's more recent decisions, i.e. Final Cut X. Firewire and Ethernet are both core technologies to those fields. Sure they want Thunderbolt and welcome it, but they still need Firewire and Ethernet for a variety of their current equipment and infrastructure. The content creators by and large were the biggest lobbying group for popularizing Apple for many years. I can't see how they can stay aboard ship these days.

As long as Apple releases a new Ethernet dongle that supports gigabit speed through USB 3, I won't miss the Ethernet port. In the end, getting one more USB port instead is a more versatile choice.

Oh and good riddance to Firewire 800, it's about time Apple dropped that fucking aberration that never caught on, I've NEVER seen a non-Apple computer with Firewire 800, and hard drive enclosures that supported it were ultra-rare and ultra-expensive. With USB 3 this is no longer relevant.

Is there anyone saying they "must" have Ethernet that can't do with an adapter, though? Or use some kind of dock/Tb display etc on the desktop? Honestly curious...

Here's the problem with that. Where can I buy a Thunderbolt to GigE ethernet adapter today? The USB to Ethernet that Apple has currently works just fine, but there are times when I want to dump a bunch of files to or from my server (I have a Macbook Air) and I really miss that speed.

So my simple answer is, pros and power users still use it and that is what a MBP SHOULD be marketed to.

If Apple also makes available a sub-$100 TB to GigE adapter then you are absolutely right. Otherwise, it's premature to ditch it.

It sounds to me like there is a certain subset of users that really want to have an Ethernet port on board at all times. I don't doubt this subset is very vocal, but I'm wondering what percentage of MacBook Pro users this represents? My gut feeling is small enough that Apple is willing to get rid of it to make its laptops thinner.

Essentially the thinking is, "99% of users never need an Ethernet port or only need it very occasionally, while 1% need it all the time, and those people can buy an adapter."

I'm in that subset, so maybe not qualified to speculate on how big that subset is, but I would certainly expect it to be more than 1% of the market for the *Pro* model.

The MacBook Air is very clearly intended as Apple's mainstream laptop now. Why get the Pro instead? There are a bunch of possible reasons, with some overlap, but my money says a substantial number of those reasons would benefit from ethernet.

You said preemptively in the post, so you could quote yourself in the comments thread <g>, that some users will call this premature. I'm not calling it premature; I'm calling it wrong into the foreseeable future. It's not just that wired is faster (though it will continue to be -- 802.11ac is on the horizon, but I doubt it will reliably compete with GbE in real usage, and affordable 10GbE can't be that far away). Wired ethernet is also more reliable and is also a very useful lowest common denominator method of connectivity due to widespread adoption. Dongles suck, and Thunderbolt doesn't seem poised for wide adoption. For any machine but especially a pro machine, it's highly useful to have a way of getting bits in and out really fast. 802.11n doesn't cut it (especially as SSDs push our standards for what "fast" means higher and higher); 802.11ac might but it's a future hypothetical and I expect still substantially worse than GbE; USB 3 and Thunderbolt are capable of shuttling the bits fast enough but they imply dongles if what you want to plug into is an ethernet network. And more to the point, it's not like next year or 3 years from now, office walls are going to have USB or Thunderbolt ports in the walls. They'll still have ethernet ports in the walls. That's why I'm arguing "premature" is entirely the wrong word. And maybe the office of the future will be all wireless, and some future Wi-Fi variant will be what actually displaces Ethernet permanently, but I wouldn't bet on it.

My money says they won't remove the ethernet port, and I'll be disappointed if they do. Everything else in the concensus rumor sounds like a good step forward, but throwing out the ethernet port to get a few mm thinner doesn't count as a win in my book.

I really don't understand the comments lamenting the removal of Ethernet. This makes sense on a portable machine. And dropping FW800 is par for the course as well since you have BOTH on the back of an Apple Thunderbolt Display...

However portables have displaced desktops for many people.

I set up a T'bolt display for my wife and it's a terrific solution: power and full connectivity with just two connectors. It's not even unreasonably priced for that size display. But not everyone is in the giant-display-for-a-thousand-bucks market.

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Apple also makes a USB-to-Ethernet adapter. Seems like a non-issue to me?

I really don't understand the comments lamenting the removal of Ethernet. This makes sense on a portable machine. And dropping FW800 is par for the course as well since you have BOTH on the back of an Apple Thunderbolt Display...

However portables have displaced desktops for many people.

I set up a T'bolt display for my wife and it's a terrific solution: power and full connectivity with just two connectors. It's not even unreasonably priced for that size display. But not everyone is in the giant-display-for-a-thousand-bucks market.

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Apple also makes a USB-to-Ethernet adapter. Seems like a non-issue to me?

I will admit that I plug my laptop in vs. wireless when I can. And since I have a MacBook Pro don't know how slow the dongle is. I also agree that by making Thunderbolt One-Port-For-All there will be a need for the hub solutions to make home/mobile use more convenient. Docking stations are nothing new and Thunderbolt makes it one cable. Of course this is all crystal ball work here... I'll just wait and see with the rest of you.

Ethernet has been around as long as the Powerbook, the connector isn't really designed to withstand repeated unplugging day in/out, but the thickness shouldn't be an issue though, back in the days of PC cards, there are some neat solutions for modems and ethernet cards with fold out RJ45/11 socket.

I use Ethernet all the time. I also use FW800, but I understand that going away.

All in all, when a technology is dropped I assume that it will be replaced with something better. The floppy drive gave way to CD-ROMs and CD-RWs and later thumb drives. All ports have typically given way to other ports that have been faster, more robust, and more convenient. The problem with going from Ethernet to Wifi is that it is unambiguously worse in every way except portability.

Now, I understand that most people don't need rock-solid, 1Gbps throughput with minimal latency and good reliability. But, the people who would need it are "Pros". I am a Pro. I use Ethernet because I have to deal with data that is not on my machine. Sometimes I move a file across the network. Sometimes I access a database. Wifi doesn't cut it. Although, I can live with a dongle as long as it is 1Gbps.

But that's not all I get in return. By getting rid of optical drives and Ethernet, I can get thinness. In fact, that seems to be the number one goal behind every Apple design decision. But, to get thinness, you also give up thermal performance. Macbook Pros are already struggling mightily to keep cool. If they make them even thinner, how will that not make it just worse?

I admit, I also like how quiet my Macbook Pro is, but thinness wont help that either. From an engineering standpoint it would be easier to keep it quiet and cool if it was just a bit plumper than they would really like. I would take that over thin any day.

It sounds to me like there is a certain subset of users that really want to have an Ethernet port on board at all times. I don't doubt this subset is very vocal, but I'm wondering what percentage of MacBook Pro users this represents? My gut feeling is small enough that Apple is willing to get rid of it to make its laptops thinner.

The thing is, they already have a product line that's all about being thin and portable. Why would this new model be entitled to the "Pro" moniker if it doesn't have some of the power-user features that a higher end laptop should have?

I don't know and can't speculate on the market of tech-savvy users that use Macs are, but in my field I still see a TON of people that run OS-X because it's very well suited out of the box for your average unix/linux admin. It has a real shell when you open up Terminal, it can take advantage of some subset of *nix software, it's much easier to tinker with in many ways than windows (for example, "tcpdump" is right there on the command line, as is "ifconfig" to quickly add an alias on one of your network adapters, and so many other command line utilities that are handy to have for troubleshooting). Go to any admin or programmer-centric conference or meetup and there's an overwhelming majority of apple laptops. Those folks regularly plug in to GigE when working in the datacenter, travelling to hotels with shitty wifi, or whenever they need to move large files (and with SSDs inside, the drive is no longer the bottleneck to moving large files around).

It's a niche, but still a rather loyal following. These folks may outnumber the old media production "Pro" users. Sure, they'll move to Ubuntu on a Thinkpad if they have to, but they'd rather not.

Removing a useful port seems odd. I can't imagine this is really the limiting factor to making the laptop thinner.

I already carry a dongle to get a serial port, it's antiquated, but not when you work with network gear and need out of band access to a device. Or I should say, I usually carry one, but find that when I really need it, I've left the bulky thing in my larger laptop bag. Dongles suck. They also don't really fit the apple design philosophy. And you know a thunderbolt ethernet adapter will be $100 or more. I'm old enough to remember PCMCIA ethernet cards with dongles, they sucked, even with various clever solutions to try and make them suck less like a pop-out jack. I'm sure one day we'll have wired-equivalent wifi, but it's not here yet.

Anyhow, regardless of how niche I am, I am still puzzled by what "Pro" means to apple these days. Is it just a higher-priced item for those with money to burn or is it intended to be a product for people using it as a tool at the workplace?

And as for all of you who need these legacy technologies, Apple has always been about dumping old tech a little sooner than some people think they should. Remember the end of floppies on the iMac, flash on iOS, or the end of optical on the air? All were ahead of their time, but that's how Apple rolls. You really shouldn't have expected Apple to offer ethernet until 2020 like some other companies will.

One could make a convincing argument for ditching firewire. Even though it may make video folks grumble, that's a fairly niche market that could be served by a dongle and/or plugging their device into the thunderbolt monitor.

I haven't heard any grumblings about the optical drive.

I think the point most people are making is Ethernet is NOT a legacy technology. For many if not most corporations, there is nothing that reliably replaces it. Many corporations don't offer wireless, or restrict it on their networks.

Ethernet is something many, if not most people, who work for a corporation will continue to need for the foreseeable future.

It would be nice if there were a new "mini-ethernet" connection standard, but I haven't seen any moves in this direction.

My predictionIf they get rid ethernet, there will be a USB 3 -> gigabit adapter. Likely the same for firewire as well. If you need multiple connections in one, then you'll use thunderbolt. If they get rid of ports, there will be new dongles coming. Apple isn't stupid.

For those of you that are complaining because you use firewire and ethernet at a single or two locations, then your lives will get better (assuming you are will to spend $) because now you'll have a single thunderbolt cable which is designed for fast plugging sitting on your desk.

The only people that will be negatively affected by this are those that use these connections on the go. If you're on the move and carry an ethernet cable so that you can plug in anywhere, then you're likely going to leave the usb dongle on the end of that cable. Have some firewire equipment? Then you'll also be lugging a an extra dongle that gets left on the end of that firewire cable you already carry.

This is not the end of the world. It will be unnoticed by the majority of users that don't plug in. Life will be better for the majority of the remaining users because they now have a much better way to dock to their desk at home. For the minority of the remaining users, welcome to the world of dongles that I left so many years ago.

I am one of the people you are talking about. Where I work, there are also a number of Macs. These people are the exact opposite of "cool". It just so happens that, as a UNIX platform, the Mac is great, and I generally prefer *NIX to Windows. I do cross-platform development and am routinely messing with code from Windows, Linux, and Sun platforms. The school I got my Master's degree from used a Sun network, Linux machines, a few Macs, and some Windows machines. When you have to live and work in that environment, Macs are nice, as they play pretty friendly with everyone.

I could choose a suitably nice Windows laptop, or I could find a laptop that is specifically good for Linux (I haven't looked recently, but my hopes are not high). I also use this machine as a primary machine for almost every purpose, although I do have a gaming desktop specifically for Windows that costs less.

But, I know a fair number of people that are in my position. I don't have to stay with the Mac, but it is what serves me the best for now. We may be a niche, but if you cut out enough niches, eventually you have started to piss off everyone, as there is no perfectly "average" user.

sporkme wrote:

Anyhow, regardless of how niche I am, I am still puzzled by what "Pro" means to apple these days. Is it just a higher-priced item for those with money to burn or is it intended to be a product for people using it as a tool at the workplace?

Unfortunately, I think they are moving towards a Pro=expensive mentality. But, many other brands do that same thing. How many "R" type cars are actually racing cars? How many nice, expensive appliances are labelled for "serious" users or professionals, but the marketing is actually squarely aimed at the standard user who happens to just have more money. As an engineer, I think it's sad, but that strategy will probably net them more money in the long term.

I would argue that an actual professional shouldn't care how something is marketed, they would just buy what helps them do their job. In my case, this laptop is great as a combination of home/work/school use and I use it as my primary machine. If that actual capabilities shrink too far, though, I have no reason to purchase a new one.

All this about the Ethernet port, but no complaints about the optical drive?

One of the biggest reasons we don't sell MacBook Air's on campus is because the Academic software that Microsoft provides to schools must be installed from the disk. The serial key provided does not work on any digital versions or demos that MS provide (probably due to a simple flag somewhere).

That alone causes a vast majority (in my experience with users in the past several years) of customers to stay away from the Air. I think optical drives will be a thing of the past, but I think it is far too premature for Apple to do so at this time.

At least this explains why Apple killed iDVD, the best movie-to-DVD application on the Mac (Toast is the only other app, which costs $100 and produces far worse results even on the best settings when burning an .avi or other such movie when coupled with Perian).

I can't see a problem with it. Work in an office and want ethernet? Get an adapter and leave it plugged into the end of the ethernet cable at all times. Boom, problem solved. In one of the 6 places on the planet that provide ethernet instead of wifi? Bring an adapter with you. Want 500 different ports because your million dollar equipment doesn't support USB3? Buy one of these or the 500 ones likely to pop up like it. Right now I use a DVI->HDMI adapter, a dock and a dongle for my mouse/keyboard. It's not that hard to deal with.

I'm kind of curious though, would it be possible to make a specific USB 3.0 port with the USB3 to gigabit controller integrated in the macbook, so a very simple, cheap dongle can be made? Completely outside my realm, but I assume possible

I can't see a problem with it. Work in an office and want ethernet? Get an adapter and leave it plugged into the end of the ethernet cable at all times. Boom, problem solved. In one of the 6 places on the planet that provide ethernet instead of wifi? Bring an adapter with you. Want 500 different ports because your million dollar equipment doesn't support USB3? Buy one of these or the 500 ones likely to pop up like it. Right now I use a DVI->HDMI adapter, a dock and a dongle for my mouse/keyboard. It's not that hard to deal with.

It's not so much the problem of "just buy an adapter and deal with it" as it is, "you use WiFi 99.99% of the time, but just got to an important event that only has Ethernet because hey, every computer has Ethernet". Or, "the WiFi isn't working or is slow right now, and it's going to be a day or two to get fixed, but you can't use Ethernet because you bought a $1,200 Mac that doesn't have a $.50 internal port, and by the time an adapter gets shipped here the tech will have fixed everything but you've still missed out on 2 days of work".

Sure, it's not the end of the world, but that's just a needless hassle I don't want to experience (but some inevitably will).

All this about the Ethernet port, but no complaints about the optical drive?

I actually still use my optical drive quite a bit, but it just so happens I would rather it be external. I would really like to be able to share the same external optical drive across multiple computers when needed and use the internal space for an extra hard drive.

Actually, what I really want on my next Macbook Pro, more than anything else, is a flash drive of reasonable size with an enormous secondary hard drive. What I fear is that the SSD boot drive in on upcoming Macbook Pros would only be usable for the OS (don't the iMacs do this now? How does it work on them?).

Is there anyone saying they "must" have Ethernet that can't do with an adapter, though? Or use some kind of dock/Tb display etc on the desktop? Honestly curious...

That's the point though, I already have THREE adapters for my thunderbolt port (I have a current MacBook Pro model) - Thunderbolt to DVI, VGA, and HDMI. Now I'm going to need a new adapter for Ethernet? gtfo.

I'm glad I got mine at the beginning of this year. Not having an optical drive is stupid for a computer that's going to cost $1300+ dollars. "Throw it on a CD-R" is still a very viable option for a lot of things, especially if I'm giving data to somebody that I don't care if I get back. Sorry but I'm not going to buy a flash drive, put data on it, then just hand that flash drive over to somebody.

But I do agree, I don't really care about firewire at this point - not because it's bad technology, but rather because there are not a great variety of devices for it (It still has the coolest logo though).

Actually, what I really want on my next Macbook Pro, more than anything else, is a flash drive of reasonable size with an enormous secondary hard drive. What I fear is that the SSD boot drive in on upcoming Macbook Pros would only be usable for the OS (don't the iMacs do this now? How does it work on them?).

There is a custom option of getting two drives in some iMacs (not the entry level one) where you can get an SSD or have an SSD+HDD combo. The SSD will contain the system installation by default, but you are free and required to set up the other SATA drive (as in, it just sits there unless you actually move files to it); such as redirecting the iTunes library and iPhoto Library and things of that nature.

But neither are locked and either can be used how you wish. With SATA connections, you aren't required to set a Master or Slave drive for booting, so you could install an OS on the secondary HDD if you wish.

That's the point though, I already have THREE adapters for my thunderbolt port (I have a current MacBook Pro model) - Thunderbolt to DVI, VGA, and HDMI. Now I'm going to need a new adapter for Ethernet? gtfo.

I'm glad I got mine at the beginning of this year. Not having an optical drive is stupid for a computer that's going to cost $1300+ dollars. "Throw it on a CD-R" is still a very viable option for a lot of things, especially if I'm giving data to somebody that I don't care if I get back. Sorry but I'm not going to buy a flash drive, put data on it, then just hand that flash drive over to somebody.

"But, dude, you just spent $1,300. Surely you can afford another $90 for a disk drive, and $35 for Apple's Ethernet adapter!"

I want to know why everyone believes that Apple WANTS to make the Macbook Pro line significantly smaller? Last time I checked, the "Pro" moniker denotes that the laptop is designed to be a desktop replacement for professionals on the go. That means it needs to be...

Powerfulhave lots of ports availablegreat battery lifea large HDD

all of which are understood to sacrifice some of the size of the laptop. So far, the Macbook Pro line has been downright slender compared to the competitions laptops that attempt to achieve the same. When Dell released the XPS everyone though that was a competitor but they all broke within 2 years (I had to deal with this problem), leading most of the defectors back to the MBP.

So I am back to my original question, why the hell would Apple want to make the MBP into a Macbook air? They already have one. Sure, lots of people want MBP power in a MBA but that just isn't possible thermally and with todays battery technology. Leave the MBA for the college students who don't need power and the MBP for those of us who need to edit photos/videos/audio/CAD/etc. on the go. I am so sick of these people complaining about a product that isn't designed to just write their damn articles in Word/Pages.

My very vocal .02 (not directed at the author of this article, just all of the trash publications that have been writing about the "merging of the macbook air with the macbook pro". LEAVE ME MY 45W PROCESSOR AND ITS POWER AND KEEP YOUR PATHETIC MBA.)

There is a custom option of getting two drives in some iMacs (not the entry level one) where you can get an SSD or have an SSD+HDD combo. The SSD will contain the system installation by default, but you are free and required to set up the other SATA drive (as in, it just sits there unless you actually move files to it); such as redirecting the iTunes library and iPhoto Library and things of that nature.

Ahh, if that is the case then I'd be more than happy to have that as an option for the Macbook Pro so long as Apple doesn't add any firmware mojo that prevents me easy access to using the SSD for whatever I would want to put on it.

I can understand the sentiment of those who want an internal optical drive, though. I just have no particular desire for it myself.

I think the point most people are making is Ethernet is NOT a legacy technology. For many if not most corporations, there is nothing that reliably replaces it. Many corporations don't offer wireless, or restrict it on their networks.

Again, this isn't the kind of thing that has ever stopped Apple in the past. Floppies were NOT a legacy technology in 1997. You actually needed them to run Windows and you could not put a "made for Windows" sticker on your machine without a floppy until many years later. "Many corporations" did not offer their employees USB sticks, or restricted their use on their machines by not providing drivers for them on the Windows side. Only in hindsight were USB sticks a "reliable replacement" and it certainly drove away plenty of corporate customers.

In summary, dropping ethernet would be an extremely Apple-like move and you should be ready for it.

Which begs the question, now that Intel's got their new chips out the door that leaves no excuse for not updating the Mac Pro line, right? It will be interesting to see if they release new towers or not.

Sandy Bridge-E Xeon chips have been out for a while. I'm wondering if either a) Apple was waiting for newer Tb controllers, or b) maybe switching to IVB desktop parts?

There is also:

c) Video cards from nVidia. The GTX 680 has been announced for a bit but supply is virtually nonexistent. A midrange Kepler card, say the GTX 660, has yet to be formally announced.

d) Figuring out what to do to get Thunderbolt working with add-in video cards. The 'easiest' solution would be to put a bridge chip and a Thunderbolt controller onto the graphics card. Workable but expensive and pseudo proprietary. There are software solutions that would work to tunnel the display output over PCI-E to a TB controller on the motherboard but that'd require software support and may not work with all graphics cards. The software solution would also have to address the output connectors on the graphics card (Would they still work?).

e) Adding a few server centric features to the Mac Pro due to the death of the Xserve. Hopefully Apple will have an LOM add-in card available for server variants. Hot swap PSU's would be overkill for a workstation but also a nice option for a server variant. This would require some re-engineering of the tower's chassis.

f) Availability of 10GbaseT ethernet controllers. Fiber and CX4 controllers have been on the market for ages but that speed on a RJ45 connector is relatively new, at least at prosumer prices.

g) 4K display to go alongside the HiDP laptops. Can't let the Mac Pro be outclassed by a laptop. Sharp has a 4K resolution panel that started mass production in April. Then again, Apple could just announce such a display and just ship later which Apple has done from time to time on high end gear.

Again, this isn't the kind of thing that has ever stopped Apple in the past. Floppies were NOT a legacy technology in 1997. You actually needed them to run Windows and you could not put a "made for Windows" sticker on your machine without a floppy until many years later. "Many corporations" did not offer their employees USB sticks, or restricted their use on their machines by not providing drivers for them on the Windows side. Only in hindsight were USB sticks a "reliable replacement" and it certainly drove away plenty of corporate customers.

Yeah, but I don't remember anyone actually liking floppies. They were standard, they were cheap, and they sucked. They may have been the bee's knees when they first came out, but I wasn't using computers back then. Ethernet doesn't suck, it's just not wireless.

I don't think the latest mockup pictures will be exactly like the final product.

The 2 Thunderbolts ports on the right side of the chassis don't make any sense.On a larger 15" and 17" chassis that will means that the current Thunderbolt display will not be compatible anymore since the MagSafe connector is on the left side and the cable split is too short to reach both ports on each side of the laptop.

My prediction is the newer chassis will not be that much different form the current one. It will keeps the Ethernet port, Apple engineers on MBP use theses for sure. Perhaps a slight taper design up front with the same height at the end to keeps Ethernet port happy.

Could be fake of course but in the past they were pretty spot on to prior to launch models. 45W CPU will not be a problem on a 15", remove the ODD and you have plenty of room for a dual fan cooling setup like the actual 17" whereas the current 15" use only a single fan solution and it could use 45W anyways.

About the screen, Retina yes for sure I would like, but what about IPS and 100% sRGB color space?When I use my iPad3,1 it puts to shame my current MBP screen, can't stand TN anymore!

For those of you surfing facebook at home on your own wifi connection, I can understand why you won't miss the ethernet port (but, as many have mentioned, why not just get the air if this is what you do?). However, I'm pushing gigabytes of data back and forth from a server, and have to do this here at work and also on location at different facilities, all of which lack wifi or provide very limited, locked down, and slow wifi connection. In a magic world where fast wifi (~10x faster than current) is the norm, we can consider phasing out an ethernet jack, but until then lets keep this very important port.

No, buying a $100 dongle is not an option. No, buying a $1000 monitor that includes a ethernet port is not an option. Put the 50 cent port on the laptop directly. If I needed my laptop to fit in a manila folder, I would buy the air.

I am also going to miss the firewire port, though that I can at least understand it's not used by everyone. But in almost every working environment I've been in, it's just assumed that a laptop will have ethernet.

Man, an array of dongles seems to go completely against the 'sleek' image apple is trying to project.

You certainly could use an adapter, but it's a pain in the ass and removing the jack serves no purpose.

Looking at my current MacBook Pro, the Ethernet adapter takes up the entire height of the side. There is about 0.5mm of aluminum above and below it. So certainly you'd have a tough time making a MacBook pro any thinner and leaving a full-sized RJ-45 connector.

Is there anyone saying they "must" have Ethernet that can't do with an adapter, though? Or use some kind of dock/Tb display etc on the desktop? Honestly curious...

The question is, why should we? Has ethernet suddenly become obsolete and nobody told me about it? Maybe it's just me (I admit I have only been an OSX user for ~5 years) but it seems like the position of most apple users (judging by initial reaction to the rumored-specs) regarding changes as drastic such as this one is "oh, it's ok - I can just get a USB adapter...". With that kind of user base, it is no wonder why apple does what it wants under the notion of 'users don't know what they want until we show them...'

Personally, I think dropping such a ubiquitous and "must have" feature such as ethernet on a PRO line of machines in favor of an extra thunderbolt port ( aren't you are supposed to be able to daisy chain thunderbolt anyway) is something that I will REALLY need to see to believe. They already have a separate line of laptops that satisfies the no-ethernet/thin body niche of the market. I honestly hope it is just a rumor...

It sounds to me like there is a certain subset of users that really want to have an Ethernet port on board at all times. I don't doubt this subset is very vocal, but I'm wondering what percentage of MacBook Pro users this represents? My gut feeling is small enough that Apple is willing to get rid of it to make its laptops thinner.

Essentially the thinking is, "99% of users never need an Ethernet port or only need it very occasionally, while 1% need it all the time, and those people can buy an adapter."

I'm in that subset, so maybe not qualified to speculate on how big that subset is, but I would certainly expect it to be more than 1% of the market for the *Pro* model.

I don't know - IIRC, when Apple introduced the original unibody MacBook Pros and ditched the ExpressCard slot, I think they actually said fewer than 1% of users ever used it. I think they left it on the 17" model though.

I could see something similar happening here: ditch the optical drive and Ethernet on the 13" and 15" models, but keep them on the 17"?

I have a 2010 MBP and have never used the optical drive, firewire, or the ethernet even once. I do however appreciate the larger screen and better graphics of the MBP line. I would very much appreciate Apple getting rid of both the optical drive and the ethernet in order to give me a lighter, thinner, yet powerful laptop. I think Apple is listening

And as for all of you who need these legacy technologies, Apple has always been about dumping old tech a little sooner than some people think they should. Remember the end of floppies on the iMac, flash on iOS, or the end of optical on the air? All were ahead of their time, but that's how Apple rolls. You really shouldn't have expected Apple to offer ethernet until 2020 like some other companies will.

Um. Ethernet isn't legacy technology. There are newer and better standards coming that will far outpace anything wireless can manage for years. Plus it offers range, a switched topology (rather than the hubs in use by wireless), full speed ports not degraded by your next door neighbor-all things wireless can't do yet, or do well.

Apple put Gigabit ethernet on their machines back before it was generally considered cost effective on the infrastructure side- the speeds were an amazing increase given the relatively minor changes (i.e. the physical ports were basically the same, and many people already had suitable wiring). But because the port was backward compatible it wasn't a risk.

As long as Apple is offering Xsan, I just don't see them removing ethernet altogether. It's just too important to the whole thing to make it likely. Gigabit wireless might make an appearance (and I hope it does) but I can say that every laptop in our office gets plugged into the network when it is available-even with gigabit wireless, since the bandwidth is immediately lowered just by having other clients, needing a native network port (with chip logic that is included anyway-the only issue is the port itself) is not just a case of being a neckbeard. So unless Apple is outright abandoning the business environment (and while I don't think its a priority anymore, it certainly is not a main concern anymore) I just don't see them ditching ethernet. Again-there is plenty of room to make the machines thinner without losing that port.

Of course, as with all things Apple, we'll just need to wait and see. They've done stranger things before.